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June 15, 2011

Update: This link has a picture of the two dogs involved. The photos aren't very good, but these dogs appear to be pretty much mixed breed dogs based on the photos. Not that breed of dog matters in this case, but while it would be unclear if these dogs would be impacted by a breed-specific law -- they certainly would have been impacted by an even remotely adequate behavior-based one.

Late last week, a Putnam County, FL man was severely attacked by two 'pit bull type" dogs while he was out gardening and sustained major injuries.

The story sadly follows a history of incidents involving these dogs. 18 months ago the dogs attacked another man on McSweeny's property and just last month, a 23 year old man suffered significant bites to both arms while visiting the dog's owner. However, in spite of knowing abou the two different attacks, the city failed to act on these aggressive dogs and allowed them to remain in their home with no restrictions. The dog's owner also apparently did nothing to prevent any other such incident.

Maybe more telling is that Capt. Johnny Greenwood apparently tried to blame the 1st victim for not seeking action after the first attack -- although the media notes that it is the city policy and state law that it is law enforcement's responsibility to take action, not the victim's. At this point, the Sheriff's office has quit talking to the media and is not issuing any more statements on the matter.

The most frustrating part of this situation is that it was completely and 100% avoidable if the city had a dangerous dog law (that was enforced) that would target dogs that, based on their behavior, were known to be aggressive. Clearly these dogs would have qualified. And yet, in this case, dogs with a history of aggression were allowed to continue living in a home with no restrictions and with no punishment to the owner.

Yesterday, an autopsy has confirmed that 38 year old David Quyon Haigler was killed by his own 'pit bull'. This is a bit of an unusual story -- and not a lot of details are known (they seldom are in cases where someone is found dead in their own home).

Haigler was found dead by his 18 year old son. The room he was in had blood stains around and Haigler had wounds on his arms, hands and head. They also specifically point out that Haigler had "defensive wounds" on his fingers and hands (which would have not been life-threatening). The report also felt compelled to mention that there was a baseball bat in the room, but there is no mention of whether it played a role in the attack (I know the dog didn't use it, but wonder if the man may have).

There was a second dog in the house that was not inovled in the attack -- it was chained up elsewhere in the house.

According to early reports, Haigler was sentenced to 7 years in prison in 2003 due to a high speed chase that ended up with him repeatedly ramming a Spotsylvania deputy's cruiser and pulling a gun on an officer. He also had been convicted of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, possession of cocaine, felony eluding, hit and run and driving on a suspended license.

Authorities are still awaiting a toxicology report...as it appears they at least have some reason to believe drugs may have been a factor in this.

I'm actually somewhat proud of the media not jumping all over this case early on before the autoposy was performed. The story has now been picked up by more than 175 media outlets.

That's right. A Golden Retriever. The very same type of dog that is a beloved family dog throughout most of the world.

Like nearly all cases, there is a reason for dog attacking. According to those close to the situation, they said the victim had owned the dog since he was a puppy and he reportedly had kicked and otherwise abused the dog since the dog was a puppy.

In the dog's final act of retaliation, the owner got what was coming to him.

For people who have experience with dogs, this story is not surprising. The breed of dog in this case, and in all cases, is irrelevant to the story. The story is about the dog's abuser who created an aggressive dog that, in a last act of retaliation against his abuser bit, and killed the man.

Cases of serious dog bites tend to have this type of story -- they involve a history of abuse by the owner, a dog that has been perpetually under-socialized, a very young child that doesn't recognize the warning signs given by a dog and continues to approach a cornered dog, a pack of dogs that are roaming with no adult supervision

Behind nearly all of these attacks is human interaction with the dog that led to the tragedy. Unfortunately, it has become common for people like Merrit Clifton and Colleen Lynn to count numbers and completely ignore the circumstances that lead to these attacks.

But what if we could isolate that, say, abused dogs were x% more likely to attack than not abused dogs. That would seem really relevant, yes? And then, what if we determined that certain types of dogs were more likely to be in abusive situations than other dogs? Would we then assume it was the type of dog problem? Or the abusive situation problem?

So, when 'pit bull' type dogs are involved in a disproportionate number of bite incidents (which other than fatality data, there is no real evidence to suggest, but they are over-represented in fatality data), is it because there is something wrong with the dogs? Or is there a people problem behind the attacks?

And the bigger question: if you want to solve the problem, do you track down and kill all of the dogs, or do you work to solve the people problem that has created the situation? (Hint: breed is irrelevant to the situation -- so not dealing with the people issue will cause issues like they have in the UK).

There is no dog problem. With some 78 million dogs in this country, there are very few incidents in which dogs inflict serious injuries on humans. But if you want to solve the problem with these serious injuries, you must solve the problem of the people around the dogs that led to the problem in the first place. Because you can't judge the behavior of the dogs void of information about the people involved in the case.

Because it's the wrong approach. And ineffective. Fortunately most cities are catching on, and major US cities like Cleveland, Toledo, and Topeka have repealed their breed specific laws just in the past 12 months.

This is good news. Not just for the dogs. But for really improving public safety by focusing on the right issues.

Editor's Note: In regards to a comment below I want to be especially clear on something. Even abused dogs are not necessarily LIKELY to show aggression. In reality, most of the abused dogs we've had have been shy and shut down vs aggressive. The point of the post is NOT to say that abused dogs are likely to bite people, only that the series of circumstances surrounding major bites must be considered in order to know WHY it happened. Abuse/Neglect can be among those circumstances. Dogs, to their credit, are very unlikely to lash out in this way -- which is why we have as a society recognized them as animals that we can bring into our homes and make a part of our lives.

June 12, 2011

Well, for starters, I've gotta say we had an awesome time at the Pin Up for Pit Bulls Midwest Carnival last night. It was great to meet Little Darling and Shorti -- and fun to see all the people out having a great time. It was a great time and with the size of the crowd that was there they earned a fair amount of money to help local bully rescues. They're also doing a lot of PR appearances while in town to help change the image of pit bull type dogs in the community. Heck, Fox 4 News even sponsered the event. Good show.

Some other news for the week -- so let's dive in:

Cities/States and Laws

College Park, GA passed a new law that will require all owners of "pit bulls", Doberman Pinchers, Rottweilers and German Shepherds to license their dogs for a $25 a year fee. The biggest problem I see here (other than the canine profiling part) is that animals that aren't licensed are to be confiscated (and then likely killed).

The London Telegraph gives an update on legislation moving (slowly) through UK government that would remove the ban on four breeds of dogs in the UK. The ban has been a complete failure in improving public safety and most rational minds are calling for a change...

Earlier this week, a legislator in Michigan proposed bill that would ban 'pit bulls' over time in the state of Michigan. The bill was promptly buried in committee with the committee chair saying he has no intention of hearing the bill (although it will remain active for a year and a half so could come back at any time). I was very pleased with how the media handled the news of the bill -- with several good articles discussing why the idea was wrong-headed, including this one.

The pit bull and the pendulum -- a solid article from the Montreal Mirror looking at several parts of the city that are considering banning 'pit bulls'.

Porterdale, GA appears to be considering restrictions on certain types of dogs.

No Kill Louisville was the only organization that submitted a proposal to take over the Metro Animal Services shelter....

Jasper, AL is going to pass a new dangerous dog ordinance -- and even though a couple of residents want it to be breed-specific, it won't be. This is good news of course, as breed-specific laws are not effective -- and it's good that Jasper is following what most cities have done when looking at the subject objectively and not passed BSL. The other part of this story is that the resident pushing for this used dogsbite.org a a source -- which then caused them to get all confused about reality and tried to note that 40 states have breed-specific laws. The real number here is 1 -- not 40, and 14 states have laws that PROHIBIT breed specific laws. But hey, don't let reality get in the way of a good opinion.

A Dillon County, SC boy was bitten six times by a neighbor's German Shepherd. The dog's owner said the dog ran away recently and "hasn't been the same since".

A Hawthorne, FL man was badly attacked by two 'mixed breed pit bulls' earlier this week. According to reports, the dogs have been a problem before as authorities have been called to the home about dog bites on two other occassions. In this case, the dogs jumped a fence and attacked a man while doing yard work. The victim ended up having one of his arms amputated because of the injuries. Injuries like this are never the first sign of aggression shown by dogs....but it is dealing with the signs of aggression before they get to this point is critical.

A Pizza Delivery Guy in Livingston, MI was attacked by a Great Dane while he was delivering a pizza.

A 14 year old boy was going door to door selling candy when he was attacked by two dogs that burst through a screen door. The dogs were identified as an American Bulldog and a Boxer mix.

A four year old girl in Andalusia (AL?) was severely attacked by a "Mixed breed cur". Apparently some children had been teasing the dog earlier in the week, and this four year old girl wandered into the back yard where the dog was "properly tethered" and was attacked. There are a whole bunch of watch-outs in this article -- which further points out why you can't judge attacks like this without looking at the influence of people into the equation.

A 35 year old Lansing, MI man required surgery after sustaining injuries caused by a 60 lbs "Chow/Lab mix".

A 14 year old Kansas City girl is being charged with animal abuse after allegedly setting a 6 month old Labrador Retriever puppy on fire and hitting it in the head with a shovel. The dog is doing better now --- although lost both ears due to burns received in the fire.

Miscellaneous

Current and former employees at the Independence Missouri Animal Shelter are accusing the shelter management of not cleaning kennels or feeding animals on a regular basis -- and not providing prompt medical care for animals that need it. I'm always a little suspicious of anonymous former employees levying complaints but know the Independence shelter has had challenges over time.

A good article detailing a series of events that led to a shelter worker getting bitten by a dog at the shelter. The article goes in to cover the various levels of dog bites (most are quite minor) and then notes the problems with level 4 and 5 bites tends to result from lack of bite inhibition.

An Indiana man ended up committing suicide while playing Russian Roulette with his dog while the man's wife apparently watched.

We'll start things off with a new blog on the scene --No Kill Tallahassee. This is a great first writing exposing the Tallahasee, FL save rate that can then begin the honest discussion about how to make it better.Welcome Susan.

The fundamental problem with the story -- For the Pit Bulls has a sad story of a dog that got free from its owner, because, well, mistakes happen, ,and the dog ended up being killed by the shelter, because, well, that's what shelters often do.

Two ways to not kill pets in Michigan - - a) quit just determining dogs as "unadoptable" to make your numbers better and b) don't make them illegal because they look a certain way -- from The Pet Connection.

Why Michigan Lawmakers won't ban pit bulls -- from mLive -- it's because outside of one person in the legislature, it appears the rest of them realize that government shouldn't be responsible for trying to kill off a breed of dog over years.

Behavioral Assessments in Shelters -- Dog Training Blog, Austin, TX, takes a look at the "Epic Fail" of the Sue Sternberg test -- and shows why shelter behavior assessments need to be used to determine what a dog needs to work on vs being used as pass/fail where failure means death in a shelter.

The Poodle and Dog Blog highlights a company that makes custom plush animals that resemble your real live pet that are designed to help bereaving pet owners.

No-Kill is No Kill? -- Dancing Dog Blog has a good post this week about how "No-Kill shelters" that don't really follow No Kill philosophies are impacting the movement - and just like "Humane" organizations, many are impacted by bad management.

Yesterday, the Ohio House of Representatives debated HB 14 - -a bill that was proposed to remove the state-wide classification of 'pit bulls' as dangerous dogs. Ohio is the only state with such a law.

The bill underwent a lot of changes yesterday -- but it sounds as if most of the discussion was good.

HB14 - in its current form - sets up 3 different classifications for problem dogs based solely on the behavior of the dog (and owner) and is breed neutral. The three classifications are:

1) Nuissance Dog -- a dog that while off its owner's property threatens, manaces or attempts to bite a person.

2) Dangerous dog - one that has caused an injury to a person, killed another dog or had 3 violations as a nuissance dog. Once a dog is classified as dangerous, the owner must register the dog, purchase liability insurance, microchip the dog and afix a tag to its collar.

3) A vicious dog -- is on that has caused serious injury to a person through a bite.

The bill also sets criminal penalties for violators -- including making a fatal dog attack on a human a 4th degree felony and a 1st degree misdemeanor for major attacks.

The new bill also restricts convicted felons from owning dangerous dogs.

Proposals to remove the breed-specific restrictions from the state bill have long been opposed by the Ohio Dog Wardens Association. But HB 14 now has their support as they feel it gives them an opportunity to fix many of the due process issues involved the state's current breed-specific law -- and they feel it will do a better job of protecting the public and holding owners of vicious dogs accountable.

It is hoped that HB 14 will pass the House in the summer session and then be moved to the Senate. So far the debate has seemed good and we are progression toward a new law that would reflect more modern thought when it comes to addressing issues with dangerous dogs -- although the bill has yet to be voted on in the House.

June 07, 2011

I'm a little late getting out some information on the latest and greatest in what is going on with the shelter situation in Kansas City, MO. Some really important stuff is going on...

1) The shelter is back open for adoptions -- a few weeks ago, the city relocated all of the animals at the shelter to Hale Arena while they did a thorough cleaning of the entire shelter. The animals were moved back to the shelter, and the shelter is now open for business. The shelter hours are pretty minimal are from 12-6 pm on Monday - Thursday, 12-4 pm Friday and Saturday and closed on Sunday. I know the folks at the shelter are badly in need of volunteers to help with potential adopters, getting petfinder profiles updated and getting dogs walked -- so if you can help, please, please, please donate your time.

2) The Pet Connection -- a good no kill rescue fascility in Mission, has opened up a fairly large section of their space for many of the urgent dogs from the KCMO Shelter. They too badly need help for volunteers to help out with these dogs -- so again, thanks to them for providing the space -- but also, help is needed in that location too. If you are interested in helping here -- please contact me -- and I will get you in contact with the volunteer who is organizing volunteers (or, I know she reads here -- if she wants to post her contact info in the comments, that's fine too).

3) The RFP for the new shelter contract is now available. There are a lot of good questions on the RFP -- including questions about how the new shelter director will manage transfers to other rescue groups, how foster homes will be handled, how adoptions will be handled, how volunteers will be managed, how they will go about promoting spay/neuters, getting dogs returned to owners, deal with aggressive animals, owner surrenders, etc. There are also some good questions on helping deal with cases of minor neglect thatI think are interesting because our animal control has typically dealt with these cases through confiscation and may now be looking for solutions that involve keeping the animal in its home, but helping the owners to better care for the animals.

I'm very hopeful that the city will really take to heart these answers and not make this a solution about the lowest cost providers. The answers to these questions will make the difference for literally thousands of animal lives in our community in the coming years -- and they're too important to just have on the RFP as window-dressing.

The RFP process is going to move fairly quickly in the short run:

6/8 -Shelter walk-through for interested parties

6/16 - deadline for question submissions

7/7 -- Due date for proposals

7/20 -- Notification of Short-listed providers

7/25 - Interviews (if necessary)

7/27 - Selection made

August is set aside for negotiations, contract signing and ordinance proposal/acceptance of recommended provider, with the new organizations slated to take over in September.

4) Separate from the RFP - the city also appears to be giving serious consideration to building a new animal shelter. City Councilman John Sharp, along with former council member Teresa Lohr are leading the charge to put a measure on the ballot for a tax increase to raise $10 million build a new shelter. The city's current shelter was built in 1973 -- and was basically created as a catch and kill facility. The shelter is very small for a city this size, has horrible ventilation and no isolation area that make animals very succeptible to diseases, is in a remote location that is very difficult for potential adopters or people with lost pets to get to. Potential adopters also get the pleasure of having the crematorium attached to the shelter that is often running when people are at the shelter.

City Manager Troy Schulte acknowledges that the shelter was never designe for modern day animal care needs. And Schulte notes that for every 1 person sho says we shouldn't spend the money he would expect 1,000 emails saying that the city isn't being nearly compassionate enough about the care of animals.

It sounds like there is a very real possibility for the tax to appear on the ballot in November -- or possibly spring of 2012. There is also a chance that it would be grouped with other tax needs -- such as a tax needed to repair our crumbling sewer system. It is still disappointing that the new shelter was removed from last year's public safety tax proposal even though it was considered in the early stages.

5) Separate from the KCMO shelter news, Jackson County, MO has signed off on $5 million to build a new animal shelter serving the non-Kansas City areas of the county. The shelter will be built on 23rd street -- 2 miles East of 291 Highway near Metropolitan Community College - Blue River in Independence. The shelter will replace the 30 year old shelter that is currently being used and will have enough space to house 125 cats and more than 100 dogs. County Legislator Denny Waits has been leading this effort in Jackson County for several years and it will be great to see it come to fruition.

We need a lot of short term help out there folks...but things are certainly looking up if we can make good decisions along the way.

Owners of dogs at each level have different requirements to meet - -and if they do meet the requirements, they can get the designations lifted over time. You can get a lot of details on the ordinance here.

More and more cities are continuing to look at ordinances like the one in Cleveland because it allows the city to more efficiently use resources by targeted dogs (and dog owners) who have shown signs of being a threat to citizens and not focusing any resources on people who's dogs are not a threat.

Cleveland is now the 2nd city in Ohio to repeal their breed-specific rules -- following Toledo doing a repeal about a year ago. With two of the state's largest four cities having now repealed their breed-specific laws, it should send a strong message to the state of Ohio that there is support for eliminating these archaic regulations -- just in time for their hearing on HB 14 tomorrow which will repeal the state-wide breed restrictions.

Congrats to the city council, dog warden and advocates in Ohio for their work in repealing the law -- and hopefully we'll have more good news coming out of Ohio tomorrow with the state House of Representatives hearing.

June 05, 2011

I've been out of town a lot the past couple of weeks - -so I'm way behind Weekly Roundups. So I'm going to go back a couple of weeks and grab some older articles you may have missed. This episode of the Roundup will focus mostly on laws and Blogs you should have read -- no dog bite this go around. As always -- feel free to add other links to the comments if you feel so inclined.

Cites/States/Countries and laws

In the UK, a dog that was mistaken for being a pit bull -- illegal in the UK -- was granted a reprieve after spending two years on death row -- wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars and costing the dog's owners two years of their dog's life because of a ridiculous law and an inability to determine breed type.

For anyone that thinks that cops shooting different types of dogs is always done out of necessity, or need, should check out this story -- as three Independence, MO police officers opened fire on a cement lawn ornament shaped like an alligator this week.

It seems that with the number of blogs and media outlets out there, as well as an increased emphasis on stories about dogs, a lot of people are finding themselves being interviewed. Here is a great blog from Seth Godin on How to be Interviewed that is well worth the quick read.

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is using the new power he has under Missouri's new law on commercial breeding operations to shut down some poorly performing breeders. He shut down two in just a couple of weeks with this power --which was given to him as part of the compromise bill that replace Prop B. Here's news of the other one getting shut down.

How much sadder can sad get? -- YesBiscuit! points out a dog at Memphis Animal Services that looks like it was getting awfully hungry while at the shelter - -and was killed without ever having a profile put up on Petfinder.